


Bully

by chimaeracabra



Category: Captain America (Movies)
Genre: Comfort, F/M, Love, Pregnancy, dad bucky
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-19
Updated: 2019-07-19
Packaged: 2020-07-08 08:07:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,287
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19866268
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chimaeracabra/pseuds/chimaeracabra
Summary: Bucky and his wife struggle with their daughter's violent outbursts.





	Bully

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Secrets Aren't for Keeping](https://archiveofourown.org/works/2799851) by [chimaeracabra](https://archiveofourown.org/users/chimaeracabra/pseuds/chimaeracabra). 



> Sometimes my fiancé and I talk about having a kid, and sometimes I worry about them coming out with characteristics that are bad, like being violent, or prone to tantrums. I guess this is just a manifestation of that worry in the form of creative writing? Hahahaha! Enjoy.

Cherise could not believe she was having to drive Christina home at 1:30 in the afternoon on a Thursday. Further, she can’t believe that her own daughter is suspended from school. Cherise glances in the rearview mirror at the still hardened expression on Christina’s face. She can feel the rage emanating from the child, and had been able to from the moment she rushed to the principal’s office. Cherise sighs.

“ _Why_ did you do it, baby girl…?” Cherise is met with utter silence. Christina is staring head on with the angriest expression on her face that Cherise has ever seen.

“Did somebody hurt you—is that why?” she asks desperately, her voice tearing a little bit. Christina spares her a quick glance before resuming her death stare.

“Stina, you’re going to have to start _talking_ to me…” the girl remains silent, her arms crossed hard. She averts her gaze from the head on direction in which she had been staring and pushes the button to let the window down. Cherise sighs again. Though there’s only a week left in the schoolyear, she decides that it might not be so bad that her daughter had gotten suspended.

“You will have to explain yourself to daddy when he gets home,” Cherise states sternly, “and no TV tonight. You’re in a lot of trouble, young lady.”

At this, Christina shrieks. Cherise hits the brakes a little too hard at the next red light. That sound has always been like nails on a chalkboard to her, something Christina does when she’s angry. Though the girl is five, Cherise knows that she should have known better than to punch another child. She’d thought she and Bucky had finally gotten through to their daughter on hitting. Apparently, she was wrong. Glancing back in the rearview mirror again at Bucky’s likeness, Cherise’s heart sinks. As soon as Cherise pulls up to the house, barely before killing the engine, Christina Natasha Barnes unbuckles her seatbelt, shoves the car door open with such force that for a second Cherise fears it will break, and runs into the backyard.

Cherise sighs. She already knows where her daughter is going. Instead of summoning her back or chasing her, Cherise kills the engine. She rests her head against the steering wheel momentarily before getting out, tugging her purse from the passenger’s seat. She closes her door and drifts slowly around her red CRV to pick up Christina’s ninja themed backpack. She sighs, pulling her phone out of the pocket of her maternity pants. She smiles briefly at the familiar sensation of the baby kicking inside of her.

“It’s okay, peanut,” she says quietly, pressing her hands to where she can feel the impression of a fully-formed foot, “Mommy’s okay.” The baby is always more active when she gets upset, like he knows what’s going on in her head and is trying to let her know that he cares. Immediately, she texts Bucky that Christina is suspended from school for punching out a boy on the playground. She starts towards the wooden fence which leads to the backyard, looping her right arm through Christina’s backpack.

Christina is already looking Cherise’s way, and she stops swinging from the beech tree and starts towards the tree fort that Bucky and Steve had built her earlier that season. Cherise sighs, knowing she’s not going to get an answer out of the girl, at least not until Bucky gets home. As she makes her way to the front door, her phone begins to vibrate. She isn’t surprised to find that Bucky is calling.

“Are you okay? Is Stina okay?” he inquires immediately. Cherise sighs, opening the front door and leaving it unlocked. She wanders into the kitchen where she can see that Christina is in her tree house, throwing something out of the window. Cherise’s eyes water and her voice breaks as she plops into a chair.

“She’s _hitting_ other kids, James.”

She can hear that Bucky is out of breath. She pictures him excusing himself from leading a sparring session to check on her after reading that text. He sighs.

“Baby, it’s going to be alright,” he promises, “Just try to relax,” he says sweetly. Cherise is already crying at this point. She chalks some of it up to pregnancy hormones, but despite her physical state, she’s distraught that her daughter has violent tendencies when all she and Bucky have done in the past nearly six years is shower her with love and try to teach her to be respectful.

“I’ll try to come home earlier and we can all talk together. Okay?”

Cherise sighs, “Okay.”

“Cherry, it’s gonna be okay, doll…maybe she’s still having a hard time coping with the fact that she’s going to be a big sister…she’s just got some frustration inside. I’m sure she didn’t mean to do what she did.”

“What are we going to do about this? Do you think she needs to be in therapy? I just don’t understand, James,” Cherise cries into the phone.

“Don’t cry, baby. It’s okay. I don’t want you to stress out,” he says, “We will do whatever we have to for our little girl. She’ll get through this. She’s got as much good in her heart as there is in the two of us combined.”

Cherise takes a handful of deep breaths, calming down.

“There you go, Cherry. I’ll come home as soon as possible. Just hang on. Okay?”

“Okay.”

“I love you, Cherry.”

“I love you, too.”

“I’ll see you soon, babe. I gotta go. Just try and give her some space. You know how she needs that when she gets upset.”

“I know…bye.”

She hangs up and takes a few more deep breaths. At this point, her son has stopped squabbling within her and she grins. Maybe Bucky is right. Christina was not happy _at all_ to learn that she was going to be a big sister. Her first reaction was to run to her bedroom and slam the door on them both. The girl was used to it being all about her all the time. Maybe she’s still adjusting. But she had always been the type to throw tantrums when she wouldn’t get her way. At first, Cherise and Bucky thought it was just the terrible twos when she was that age, but she never quite grew out of it. Just last week, Bucky had to chastise her for pulling his hair at the dinner table when he wouldn’t let her have more than one piece of cake for dessert. He had learnt to keep his hair in a bun around their daughter. Cherise sighs, wondering how many times she and Bucky had to say, “No hair pulling, no kicking, no hitting.” It seems to have gotten worse in the past few months, especially now that Cherise is showing.

She glances out the window again, this time to find Christina is reading a book, leaning in the window of her fort. She can see in the distance that it’s the copy of Stellaluna Natasha and Steve’s son had given to her for her last birthday. Cherise busies herself by getting an early start on dinner, waiting for Bucky to come home. It’s 3 o’clock when she hears a car pull up in front of the house and not long before she sees Bucky walking towards the tree house in the backyard.

“Christina,” he calls, which Cherise can hear through the window she had opened. When he doesn’t get a response, he starts up the small ladder. The sight of her muscular husband making his way up that tree almost causes Cherise to laugh. He is shortly met with a football in the forehead and he stumbles momentarily.

“Christina!” he shouts, his metal arm reaching up into the fort. He isn’t met with too much more resistance and Cherise watches as Bucky plucks the child from hiding, folding her carefully over his shoulder, his metallic arm glimmering in the afternoon sun as he makes his way to the patio and screen door. Christina is kicking against him, pounding her fists on his back, but this hardly seems to bother Bucky as Cherise pulls the sliding door open for him.

“ _Stop_ that,” he says sternly. Though she’s crying halfheartedly, Christina stops struggling. Bucky sighs, pausing to kiss Cherise’s forehead.

“I got home as soon as I could,” he says. And Christina struggles again, almost causing Bucky to drop her.

“ _Hey_ ,” he says, his voice full of worry. He tries to steady her on her feet, but she smacks his hands away and immediately takes off, running out of the kitchen and up the stairs to retreat to her room.

“Christina!” Bucky yells, startling Cherise. She places a hand on his chest.

“Let’s not yell at her. It just doesn’t work, James,” Cherise explains calmly. He sighs, closing his eyes a moment. She can tell he’s upset. He pulls Cherise into his arms, careful of her bump.

“I’m sorry,” he says, kissing her forehead a handful of times again.

“Are you alright?” he asks. Cherise nods. And they stand there embracing each other a while. When the sound of something smashing meets their ears, they both immediately rush up to their daughter’s bedroom. Bucky reaches the door before she does.

“Christina?! Open this door _right now_ ,” he demands.

“No!” she screams from inside. The anger on Bucky’s face hurts Cherise’s soul for a moment.

“Open—the—door,” he says again, more calmly. He doesn’t usually raise his voice to their daughter, unless she does something that is dangerous to herself or someone else.

“I’m going to count to three and you had better have this door open or I’m going to break it down,” Bucky warns. Another smashing sound meets their ears and Bucky turns the knob with his metal hand, breaking it. He doesn’t swing it open, however, for fear that Christina is right behind it. When he steps inside, he’s stepping instantly on pieces of a pink piggy bank and the mirror that used to sit atop Christina’s dresser.

“What did you _do_?” Bucky asks, his blue eyes wide with a combination of horror and frustration.

“Get out!” Christina screams at him. He rushes around her bed to collect her as Cherise steps carefully over the glass.

“Be careful,” he says, turning to glance back at Cherise. He attempts to pick Christina up again but she kicks at him.

“James, just let her be,” Cherise says, as calmly as she can muster. The girl had backed herself into a corner. Christina picks up her snow globe, aiming it angrily at Bucky.

“Christina, if you throw that, I’m going to spank you,” he says calmly, warning her. He had only done so a few times before, but it always resulted in him feeling like some kind of monster afterwards. When Christina aims the globe at Cherise, Bucky moves in so quickly that Cherise almost doesn’t see him grab it. This motion had thrown their daughter off balance slightly, enough that she can’t fight back after he carefully places the toy on her bed and snatches her up. Bucky transfers her to the small window seat near her closet. He sighs.

“Were you really going to throw that and hurt your mommy? Hurt me?” he asks, anger still salient in his tone, “You know better than that,” he snaps at her. Cherise wipes her eyes, glancing at all the glass on the floor.

“Christina, this has to _stop_. You seriously injured someone today, and now you’re _breaking_ things in our home?” Cherise starts towards the window seat where Bucky is holding Christina’s arms at her sides. The girl goes from screaming to crying, and Cherise and Bucky merely kneel in front of her with worry now. Bucky loosens his grip on Christina who falls forward into his chest instead.

“What’s wrong, baby girl?” he asks, running his metal hand through her hair repeatedly. They just let her cry for a while. Cherise is startled slightly by the sensation of the baby moving around again. Bucky glances at her sideways, using his right hand to rub her lower back, his eyes flitting to where she’s holding her stomach.

“Are you okay?” he asks. Cherise nods, wiping her eyes and reaching for their daughter’s hand. The girl lifts her face from Bucky’s chest somewhat to look at her mom.

“Talk to us, Stina,” she begs, “We just want to understand you, baby.”

Bucky kisses the top of Christina’s head. Gradually, she sits up, rubbing her eyes, snot leaking out of her nose. Bucky uses the hem of his t-shirt to wipe her nose.

“No more hitting…no more throwing things…just _talk_ to us,” Bucky says gently. Christina sighs a few times, staring away from both Cherise and Bucky, a hardened expression on her face again.

“Hey,” Cherise says, kissing her daughter’s small hand.

“Daniel said…”

Their ears perk up and they become very still, anxious to hear what the girl has to say, “he said…I’m getting a little brother because my mommy and daddy don’t want me,” Christina explains, her voice breaking, “because I’m not a boy and that’s what they wanted.”

“What?” Bucky asks, astounded. He cups Christina’s face and forces her to look at them.

“Christina, that’s not true _at all_.”

“Well—he said that when my brother comes, you’ll forget all about me,” Christina whimpers. Cherise joins Christina on the window seat and pulls her daughter into her lap as best she can in spite of her stomach.

“That’s _not_ true,” she reassures her, rocking the girl back and forth. There isn’t space enough in the window seat for Bucky to sit beside them, but he rubs Christina’s legs comfortingly. He clutches her ankle.

“Baby girl, that little boy doesn’t know what the _hell_ he’s talking about. Mommy and I have _always_ wanted you. We will always want you. We love you, and having a baby brother isn’t going to change that. We don’t want you to be anything other than what you _want_ to be, jelly bean,” Bucky promises.

“Really?” Christina whimpers.

“Absolutely,” Bucky explains.

All these months, she must have been convinced that Cherise and Bucky would forget about her once her little brother arrived, and some stupid kid telling her so only made that fear worse. It was clear to Bucky and Cherise now that their daughter’s anger was the manifestation of her deepest fear.

“You hear that, baby?” Cherise asks, tucking Christina’s hair behind her ear and out of her face. The child nods.

“But you gotta promise us something, jelly bean: _no more hitting_. _No more throwing things_. We understand that Daniel was mean to you, but you _never_ hit somebody just for saying something stupid. Do you understand that?”

“Yes, daddy,” Christina nods.

“And you certainly _don’t_ throw things at anyone. Especially not mommy because she’s pregnant and that could hurt your little brother. And your little brother loves you just as much as we do. You don’t want to hurt him.”

Christina nods.

“The only time you ever hit someone is when they hurt you first. To defend yourself,” Cherise adds.

“I know, mommy—I was just so angry!” Christina explains, fresh tears meeting her cheeks.

“It’s going to be okay, Stina. You just have to remember not to get physical when you’re upset.”

“I’m sorry,” she sniffles. Bucky stands to retrieve the box of tissues from her night stand. He sits on the floor in front of Cherise and Christina, wiping the little girl’s eyes and nose with a toothless grin on his face.

“We love you more than anything in the world, Christina. Don’t you _ever_ , _ever_ worry about that. Our love won’t disappear, no matter how many brothers and sisters you get,” Bucky reassures her. After a few more minutes calming her and talking to her about appropriate ways to express her anger, Bucky goes to find the broom and dustpan in the kitchen. He picks up all the change that had spilled and places the coins on the dresser before sweeping up the glass. Cherise finds that their daughter has fallen asleep in her arms. Carefully, she picks the girl up and places her in bed. Bucky sighs, dispensing the last of the shards into a black garbage bag. He and Cherise quietly close the bedroom door, Bucky noting that the handle is definitely broken.

“I’ll fix that,” he whispers apologetically. Cherise couldn’t have cared less about the doorknob. She was just concerned about their daughter locking the door on them. She had never done that before. They both sigh, heartbroken that their daughter could ever believe such a cruel lie.

Bucky follows Cherise into the kitchen. He throws out the bag of glass and washes his hands before joining Cherise at the table.

“We have to put her in therapy, James.”

“I know.”

“Talking to her isn’t enough.”

“I agree. I just can’t believe she would ever think that we don’t love her,” he says in disbelief, “That kills me more than the fact that she was suspended.”

“She knocked that kid out, James,” Cherise adds. His eyes widen.

“Did the principal tell you whether the little bastard was okay?”

Cherise sighs, “Yes. He woke up, but they sent him to the ER.”

“ _Fuck_ …we’re gonna have to deal with his parents. I bet they’re gonna want her to apologize, too,” Bucky says with displeasure. He clasps Cherise’s hand.

“I feel like maybe this is my fault,” he says worriedly.

“What? How, James?”

He shrugs, “I dunno…sometimes I wonder if…if all the crazy things I did all those years ago, all the brainwashing I endured, the violent things they made me do…I wonder if some of that managed to get passed on to our daughter.”

Cherise pulls her chair closer to Bucky and clutches his face with both hands.

“I don’t believe that for a second, James. None of that was your fault, baby. None of _this_ is your fault. You’ve never taught her to be violent at all.”

“But that’s what I’m getting at, Cherry—the genetics. What if Stina’s violent side is all _me_? How do we get that out of her?”

“Bucky…I don’t believe that. You’re the most loving dad I’ve ever met.”

“Maybe I never shoulda spanked her. It didn’t work anyway,” he sighs.

Cherise tucks his hair behind his ear.

“It’s not you, James,” Cherise promises. He looks at her and tries to smile, but it’s weak at best.

“We’ll get her into therapy. We can’t handle this alone anymore…and you know something Cherry? She used to _listen_ to me. She’d listen when I’d tell her no, and one day…I don’t know, that just stopped. I knew she was mad at us for this,” he says, cupping Cherise’s belly with a smile on his face, “But I never thought it would get this bad. When she started slamming doors, we shoulda put her in therapy immediately.”

“Well, we know what to do now, James.”

He sighs.

“Well, she couldn’t have picked a better time to get herself in trouble. Summer vacation starts next Wednesday,” Bucky explains. The two of them smile at each other briefly.

“And you know what, it’s bad that she punched a kid, but I’m proud of her for sticking up for herself.”

“I have to admit…me too.”

“Two more months until this guy,” Bucky states, taking a knee to kiss Cherise’s belly longingly, wrapping his arms around her waist. Her laugh relieves him. He gazes up at her with his glazed over oceans for eyes, knowing that somehow, things were going to be just fine.


End file.
